Did he think he was helping or know he was hurting the child? Article:
When Lisa Decatur arrived at the West Oak Cliff apartment at 7 a.m. Saturday, the child was fine. The 43-year-old home health care nurse is part of the team that provided round-the-clock to Sergio Arellano Ramirez's 1-year-old son, who had an undisclosed medical condition and severe breathing problems. The empty beer cans strewn about the apartment, and Ramirez's admission that he'd stayed up all night talking, were somewhat unusual, but nothing to disrupt the normal routine.

Decatur had been there an hour and was feeding the child breakfast when Ramirez asked her to put his son in the stroller and wheel him into the family room. Decatur obliged. She moved the medical equipment first then, as she turned to retrieve the child, she heard his suction machine, needed to clear fluid from his lungs, abruptly stop.

When she entered the bedroom, she found Ramirez standing there, clutching his son tightly to his chest. Decatur and a witness -- the child's mother, perhaps; the police report doesn't specify -- begged him to let go.

"You have to let me suction him!" the nurse pleaded. Ramirez responded, according to police, by headbutting her in the face and repeatedly yelling "Fuck you!"

Decatur briefly left the room to call 911. When she returned, Ramirez was standing over the child, whom he had laid on the bed, police say. She moved in to perform CPR, but he kept pushing her away, screaming "You don't know what the fuck you are doing!" He was slapping Decatur as paramedics entered the room.

Michael Barrett, a 60-year-old Dallas firefighter, tried to grab Ramirez so the paramedics could perform CPR, but Ramirez reared back and punched him in the right temple, knocking him unconscious. Police arrived not long after that, finding a disoriented Barrett leaning woozily over the front railing. They then relieved the two firefighters who had Ramirez pinned to the ground and placed him under arrest.

Ramirez was taken to Lew Sterrett on a pair of assault charges, one for headbutting the nurse, the other for knocking out the firefighter. The child was taken to Methodist Central Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Dallas police say they are investigating the incident as child abuse.

Re: Man Fought Off Nurse and Firefighter Who Were Trying to Save His Son

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Originally Posted by Hanze

At first blush I would guess that he was hungover and unstable and in his mind he was protecting his kid due to an irrational belief that the medic/firefighter was somehow botching it.

That was my thought too. Some sort of paranoid break with reality, and maybe he thought he was "saving" his son. But he could have been trying to euthanize/murder him. Couldn't have been an easy life, and after a night of drinking maybe it seemed like a legit option. Truly a WTF situation. Can you imagine being the nurse and trying to save the kid? Nightmare....

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Re: Man Fought Off Nurse and Firefighter Who Were Trying to Save His Son

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Originally Posted by JohnFrash

That was my thought too. Some sort of paranoid break with reality, and maybe he thought he was "saving" his son. But he could have been trying to euthanize/murder him. Couldn't have been an easy life, and after a night of drinking maybe it seemed like a legit option. Truly a WTF situation. Can you imagine being the nurse and trying to save the kid? Nightmare....

I feel bad for all parties [assuming that my first instincts are right and the guy wasn't flat-out murdering his kid knowingly]. As you said, a total nightmare for the nurse and I presume firefighter, the kid dies tragically, and the father has to live with himself knowing that he's responsible for depriving his own son from potentially live-saving treatment, potentially after being driven to the brink of insanity due to worrying about the incredibly delicate nature of his son's life. [I might be assuming too much of paternal love/human kindness on this part, though]. It's just awful all round.

Re: Man Fought Off Nurse and Firefighter Who Were Trying to Save His Son

It reminds me of my wife's friend who came home from work to find her husband cutting their son's head off with a chiefs knife yelling he was saving the boy from the Devil. This is some crazy world, and it can happen to anyone.

Re: Man Fought Off Nurse and Firefighter Who Were Trying to Save His Son

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Originally Posted by peema

It reminds me of my wife's friend who came home from work to find her husband cutting their son's head off with a chiefs knife yelling he was saving the boy from the Devil. This is some crazy world, and it can happen to anyone.

That's horrible!

Bath salts? Was he in Florida?

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Re: Man Fought Off Nurse and Firefighter Who Were Trying to Save His Son

Quote:

Originally Posted by peema

It reminds me of my wife's friend who came home from work to find her husband cutting their son's head off with a chiefs knife yelling he was saving the boy from the Devil. This is some crazy world, and it can happen to anyone.

Did the wife catch him in time to safe the child? Please tell me she did.